Jacob Tipper checks in and leaves his rivals trailing
Professional rider Jacob Tipper (Brother NRG) powered clear to clinch victory in round seven of the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Road Race League, writes Benn Goddard.
The 25-year-old from Dudley bided his time before taking a comfortable sprint victory as a guest rider to the league.
Ben Joughin (Pro Vision Racing) increased his overall lead by sprinting to second place on the night ahead of his overall rivals.
With a gap of nine minutes to catch on the first handicap group over the 35-mile race around ‘the Rabbit Run’ near Bridgnorth, the fastest riders worked well together early in the race reducing their deficit.
The race groups came together with 10 kilometres to go and it was junior rider Ben Healey, from Kingswinford, who attacked up the final climb splitting the race down to a small front group who came to the finish together.
Tipper timed his finishing sprint to perfection beating Joughin into second and Healey into third.
“I’m a pretty good sprinter so won it convincingly in the end,” said Tipper. “I haven’t ridden the road race league since I won on the same course two years ago. I haven’t been going that well lately so wanted to get a good session in by riding and from the race as well
“It’s a wicked course and probably the best course in the West Midlands as it has got it all.
“I like the climbs on it and the exposed sections which makes it a bit of a classics course. The final climb is steep and narrow at the bottom and it’s generally a good race.”
Tipper was using the race in preparation for the National Series events at the Tour of the Reservoir and Stockton GP in the coming weeks before focusing on the velodrome during the winter.
With Chris Pook (Rhino Velo), who lies second overall absent, veteran leader Matthew Morris (Wolverhampton Wheelers) closed the gap to second to a handful of points with a fourth-place finish on the night.
